


In Misery (there ain't no body who can comfort me)

by BlaspheME (vanishingvixen)



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/F, Female Friendship, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Pre-Slash, Sickfic, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, WAFF, sick!Holtzmann
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-03
Updated: 2016-08-04
Packaged: 2018-07-29 02:41:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7667137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vanishingvixen/pseuds/BlaspheME
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Abby notices bumps creeping up along Holtzmann's neck and face. SHOCK! Drama! Worry! Concern! Heartbreak! Just kidding there are none of those things in this fic, this is just your run of the mill H/C. Lots of fluff, WAFF, cuddling, good friends, and pre-femslash.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a production brought to you in conjunction with Satan and the Gutter. After two solid weeks of bitching about "where's my H/C at" I finally just wrote it myself. Multiple chapters because I'm too damn lazy to write an entire fic before work on a Wednesday. More later. Eat it up.

Abby was the first one to notice. 

“Holtz, what is that on your face,” she asked, setting down the lunch bags she was carrying and reaching out to grab the younger woman’s chin in her hands. 

Holtzmann shrugged, pulling herself out of Abby’s hands. “It’s probably a bug bite. It itches like one.”

Abby, who had walked around the table to get a better look, grabbed her back. She tilted Holtzmann’s chin up and to the side, so she could get a better look at her neck – there wasn’t just one blister on Holtzmann’s face. There was a line of them, going down her neck and under her shirt collar. A whole trail of weird, bite-like bumps with long pink lines around them from where she had absent-mindedly been scratching at them.

“Guys, come over here and tell me what you think this is,” Abby said. “Also, I have lunch, so come get that.”

Patty was the first to make it over to where the other two women were already standing. “Let me see,” she demanded. Holtzmann, who had given up on pulling away from Abby, obligingly turned and tipped her head towards Patty, who took it and tilted it just like Abby had done, before running her right hand up the side of Holtzmann’s face and resting it on her forehead.

“Awe, no, honey, you got a rough couple days ahead of you,” she said, combing back a chunk of Holtzmann’s hair that had escaped from her elaborate up-do.

Erin, who had been working out an equation for something or another on the couch, finally made her way over to the rest of the group. "What's going - oh. When did those appear?" Holtzmann shrugged.

"I just noticed them when I got back," Abby said. She had gone back around the table and was unpacking the bags she had carried up. "Because I noticed those two on her chin, and I remembered they hadn't been there this morning. Acne doesn't flare up the quickly."

"I noticed a couple around my clavicle when I was getting dressed this morning," Holtzmann said, "but I didn't think anything of it."

"Ok," Abby said, "But what ARE they?"

"Well," Erin said, as she pushed Holtmann onto the stool behind her work surface, "It looks a lot like chickenpox."

Abby dropped the container she had just pulled out. "You have got to be joking."

"No way," Patty said. "That's pretty clearly chickenpox, she's got a fever and everything."

"What I think is interesting," Erin said, as if no one else had said anything at all, "is that the rash normally appears after a day or so. So Holtz has been feeling bad for at least a day, and didn't say anything to us."

Abby turned to her, betrayed. 

"I didn't think anything of it," Holtzmann said. "And then I just thought I had an allergic reaction something that we were using in the lab." 

"On your chest?" Erin asked, skeptically.

"It happens." Holtzmann's blue eyes were red-rimmed, and her cheeks were ruddy. The pox on her chin seemed almost to glow. She looked almost as if she were about to cry.

"Ok, chill out, y'all. You're stressin' Holtzy out. It doesn't matter that she didn't tell us yesterday, we know now."

"Sorry, Holtz." Abby said. "Ok. Let's go eat lunch on the couch - Erin, move your stuff, you don't get the whole thing - and we'll go from there."

"That sounds like a good plan," Erin said as she headed to the couch to gather the notebooks and journals she had been working with. "Lunch, and then we'll call your doctor," she said, directing the last part at Holtzmann.

"Ok - Erin, here's your sandwich. Patty, salad, take it please - Holtz, I got the soup you asked for, I don't know why I didn't see something was up with that, you never get soup."

"Soup requires focus," Holtzmann said. "Unless it's just liquid, but then it's not very filling. Can't eat it while you solder."

"You really need to stop doing that," Erin said. "I'm surprised you haven't been burned."

"You've got to be kidding me, girl burns herself all the time. I think she just stopping caring." Patty said

"I think her nerves are dead, actually," Abby said, settling on the couch next to Patty with her own lunch.

Holtzmann grinned. "I just don't feel it much anymore," she said, taking a tentative sip of her soup.

"That is not a good thing," Erin said. "Anyway, even if it doesn't hurt, the burns could easily get infected."

"We'll ask about it when we go into the clinic after lunch today." Abby said. "I'll call them now to let them know we'll be down in about an hour, she'll get seen quicker that way."

"Ask if Dr. Sauer is in." Holtzmann said. "She likes me best."

"I will do that," Abby said. "You drink your soup."


	2. Chapter 2

Abby managed to get an appointment at the walk-in clinic for two pm. Since it was only noon, this gave them an hour or so before they had to worry about actually heading over. It wasn't going to be a tricky journey - it was literally just down the block. As long as they left by one thirty they would be fine.

Erin remained curled on the couch - despite having her own desk, it really was her favorite place to work. Her desk was on the first floor, but the second floor couch gave her a good view of Holtzmann's work station. Abby had asked her about it directly, but Erin had just blushed and lied. Patty had offered to trade with her (there really was no reason for her and Holtzmann to share a workspace, and all the explosions just distracted her) but Erin had refused. So instead, her actual work space was a stack of books and papers piled haphazardly on the couch.

Holtzmann had curled into her side sometime during lunch, her forgotten container of soup tugged gently from her hands by Patty, and Erin had draped an arm around her and was absent-mindedly playing with loose strands of Holtzmann's long, sticky hair. Holtzmann, who had wrapped one hand across Erin's stomach, and tucked the other behind her back, in what looked to be a very uncomfortable position, was completely asleep.

"We need to get a picture of them," Patty said to Abby as she helped her carry the lunch things downstairs. "Don't you dare," Abby said. "They need to work themselves out on their own, they don't need any help from us."

"Oh, I ain't never said they needed help," Patty grinned, as she tucked away Erin's forgotten sandwich in the fridge. "Just that they needed that picture. And so does the rest of the world. Besides, I already took it."

Abby just rolled her eyes. "Don't post it."

Kevin chose that moment to walk back in from - wherever he had been. The women had stopped asking, because his excursions never made any sense. "What are we not supposed to be posting," he asked, tossing his phone from hand to hand. "I put the picture Patty just sent me on the Insta. I think."

"Kevin!" Abby shrieked, turning to him. "You did what!?" 

"I posted that picture Patty just texted me of Erin and Holtzmann."

"Don't worry about it, Abby," Patty said, handing her the phone. "It's not on Insta - I already checked." 

"That's because it's on Facebook!" Abby yelled. "Kevin, you can't just post the things we send you online! This could have seriously detrimental effects on our business."

Patty snatched Abby's phone out of her hands. "Abby, girl, chill. Look at the comments."

"This person says they make a sweet couple!" Kevin said. "Are they a couple? Why didn't you tell me!"

"They aren't a couple," Abby sighed, handing Patty her phone back and taking hers instead. "But they could be, if they got their shit together. Anyway, this really isn't the best time, especially with Holtz sick. She doesn't need anything that will stress her out further."

"Stress is probably what got her sick in the first place. Wears down at your immune system and all that. You gotta admit, our job isn't chill." Patty slumped back against the fridge. 

"Holtz is sick?" Kevin asked. "Man, you guys don't tell me anything."

"Yeah, she's probably got chickenpox - no clue where she picked that up. We're gonna run down to the walk in clinic in a little bit just to confirm."

"That sounds like a good idea. You wouldn't want Holtz to turn into a chicken," Kevin said.

"That is the weirdest thing I have ever heard you say," Patty said. "And you have said some weird shit. Have you never had the chickenpox? I though everyone had it as a kid."

"No," Kevin said, sitting down at the kitchen counter and placing his head in his hands. "I can't imagine I was ever a chicken."

"Oh - for heaven's sake, Kevin. Chickenpox does not turn you into a chicken." Abby said. She hopped up on the counter next to Kevin, and began cleaning her glasses.

"It doesn't? Then why is it called chicken pops?"

"It's not called that, either, but if anyone here would know, it would be Erin - no, don't go ask her now," Abby said, as Kevin stood suddenly. "She's working, and Holtz is sleeping in her lap. Let's not bother them until it's time to go, ok?"

"Ok," Kevin said. 

"Kev, I think you should go with Abby and Holtzy when they leave, ok? We don't know if you've had it, and if you haven't, you need to get the vaccine."

"Ok," Kevin said again. "As long as it's not a shot. I don't like shots."

"Kevin, honey," Patty said, going over to Kevin and smoothing her hands over his shoulders. "You're gonna have to get like, two shots today. But if you sit still and are good, I'll take you with me on a call."

"Cool!" Kevin said. 

"That is a terrible idea," Abby said. "The first part, not the second. We should probably all get out immunity checked, to be honest."

"I'm good," Patty said. "I got it when I was twelve, and had my immunity checked and the booster when I began working for the MTA."

"Erin's probably good too - she taught, and I think it was a requirement at her school to have the vaccine. But I should probably be checked, I don't know that Higgins cared."

"Then the three of you will go together. Speaking, how are you planning on getting Holtzy there? Girl don't look like she's up to walking two blocks."

"I will carry her if I have to," said Abby. "It is two blocks. Kev and I will trade off."

'Y'all gonna look like a bunch of crazy folks, but whatever. You might want to go and wake her up, though - it's almost one fifteen."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the chickenpox vaccine didn't come out until '95. So it was probably not required for Abby, Erin, or Patty until they went to college or began working. Kevin probably hasn't had his by virtue of A) not working real jobs and B) never having been to college. Holtzmann, who is ten years younger (and the same age as Kevin) was required to get the shot for college at the very least. But it failed. This is a thing that happens. (It does, I'm serious.)


	3. Chapter 3

The trio ended up taking an Uber to the clinic anyway. Holtzmann really wasn’t up to walking, and Patty had raised a good point: they would look weird, and it wasn’t like they flew under the radar anymore. Kevin wasn’t recognized with the same frequency the women were, as his imagine wasn’t plastered across the news for weeks on end. But all the rest of them were public figures now, and they needed to act the part. 

Erin had taken Holtzmann’s hair down in the hopes that it would hide where the rash had spread to her face, and wrapped her in her hoodie, but Holtzmann still felt self-conscious, and not up going out in public looking like she did.

“Her fever’s gone up,” Erin fretted, stroking Holtzmann’s hair away from her face, which was still buried in Erin’s stomach. “We should have given her some Tylenol earlier.”

“Relax,” Holtzmann said, as she turned her head to face up at Erin. When Erin failed to look down at her, Holtzmann reached up and tugged Erin’s hair to direct her face downward. “I took some this morning. It’s just worn off.”

Erin frowned, but didn’t say anything.

“The car’s here,” Abby announced, bounding up the stairs. “Kevin, Holtz, let’s go. Time’s a-wastin’.”

The car ride was particularly miserable. The Uber driver had (of course) brought his wife along, and she chattered non-stop to the trio crammed in the backseat. Holtzmann, who didn’t particularly like being in cars unless she was driving them, sat in the backseat crammed between Kevin and Abby, gripping each of their hands tightly in her own. Her face was white, except for the spot on her lip where she bit down on it.

“…we’re all so grateful for what you girls did,” the Uber driver’s wife was saying, even as they pulled up in front of the clinic.

“It really was no problem, ma’am,” Abby replied as she eased Holtzmann out of the car. “None at all. Kevin, help a girl out here?” 

Kevin shoved Holtzmann the rest of the way out of the car, and slid out behind her, before bounding around both women to open the door for them. Holtzmann immediately made a bee-line for the bathroom, while Abby checked them in, Kevin hovering nervously over her shoulder.

“Jillian Holtzmann and Kevin Beckman?” The nurse at the front desk asked them. 

“Yes – well, I’m Abby Yates. I made the appointment. Holtzmann’s in the bathroom, puking her guts out, probably. I should go check on her…”   
The nurse winced in sympathy, and pulled out an emesis basin from behind the counter and handed it to Abby. “Just in case,” she said.

“Thanks. Kevin, have a seat. We’ll be out in a minute, ok?” Abby said, before taking the bin and walking to the bathroom.

It was a small, single person bathroom, and Abby rattled the doorknob, surprised to find it unlocked. “Holtz, you ok? Can I come in?”

From inside the bathroom, she heard nothing, just a sniff, so she opened the door as little as she could to slide in, locking it behind her. Thankfully, they had come in what appeared to be an off time for the clinic, and the waiting room behind her was mostly empty.

In the bathroom, Holtzmann was curled on the floor, leaning on the wall by the toilet. She was a mess – the mascara she had carefully applied that morning had been rubbed and cried off, and now formed dark rings around her eyes. Her lipstick had feathered into rings around her mouth, and she had tucked her hair into the collar of her shirt.

“Oh, God,” Abby said, sitting down beside her and taking her own hair out of it’s ponytail to tie up Holtzmann’s more efficiently. “Today is not a good day for you, is it?”

Holtzmann just leaned into her friend’s body. She was like a furnance along Abby’s side, but she drew the younger woman closer, holding her tightly for a minute. “You good?” She asked.

Holtzmann nodded, tentatively.

“Let’s get you cleaned up, then.” Abby said, pushing herself up off the floor. She grabbed some of the paper towels and moistened them, before crouching down in front of Holtzmann and wiping off her face, carefully removing the smeared makeup and tears. She pulled a water bottle out of her purse and handed it to her friend. “Rinse and spit,” she instructed. “Then small sips, ok?” 

Holtzmann nodded, and followed her instructions. “It’s gonna be ok,” Abby told her. “It’s gonna suck, but you’ll be ok. And I’ve seen you in worse situations, ok?”

“Erin hasn’t,” Holtzmann murmured. “She’s only seen me at my best.”

Abby laughed. “Trust me, her worse is worse then you’ll ever be. I saw her in high school.” That got a laugh out of the younger woman, and she handed the bottle back to Abby before pushing herself up off the floor. 

“The nurse gave me a basin,” Abby said. “Just incase, ok? Let me know if you want it.”

Back in the lobby, Kevin was sitting quietly. It’d been a long time since he’d been to the doctor, and he was nervous – especially about the shot. He tapped his feet anxiously, waiting for his name to be called. 

“Hey Kev,” Holtzmann said, opening the bathroom door and slipping out to sit on his right. “How’s it goin’”

“What’s going?” Kevin asked.

“Never mind,” said Holtzmann. “Stay still so I can use you as a pillow.”

Kevin was happy to acquiesce. Just then, a door opened, and a nurse stepped out.

“Kevin Beckman,” he called.

Abby looked up, and then looked at Kevin, whose eyes were wide and dark. She had never been more grateful that Patty had had Kevin’s mother fax over his medical records, just in case. She stood up.

“Hey, I know this is super unusual, but can you just take all three of us back at once? I don’t think either of them really needs to be alone for this. Please.”

The nurse looked between the trio – Kevin and Holtzmann gripping hands, both chalk-pale, with spots crawling up Holtzmann’s neck and face, and said, “Yeah, I can see what this is about. Come on back.”

The exams were quick. The checked both Kevin and Holtzmann’s weight and temperature, tutting at Holtzmann’s readings.

“Have you taken anything,” he asked. 

When Holtzmann replied in the negative, he just shook his head, and steered them to a room.

“Normally, I would ask y’all to put on a gown, but since we have a uniquie situation here, I’m just going to ask you,” he pointed at Holtzmann, “to take off your bra.”

“Joke’s on you,” Holtzmann replied. “I’m not wearing one.”

“Good for you. I’m just going to explain things to your doctor, and she’ll be right in.”

As soon as the nurse left, Kevin began spinning in his chair, and Holtzmann slumped back against wall behind the examination table. Abby handed her the bottle of water and the basin, but Holtzmann just shook her head.

“Everything hurts,” she said. “And it itches, but I’m trying so hard not to scratch.”

“You’re doing well,” Abby said soothingly. “Much better than I would, I promise.”

Just then, Dr. Sauer came through the door. 

“So, chickenpox, huh,” she said. “I honestly think this is the first time you’ve been in my office for something not related to a work accident. That’s quite an accomplishment!”

Holtzmann smiled faintly. 

“So here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to have to take some blood from both of you, so I’m going to send you to our lab. We’ll check you for infection, and you-“ she pointed to Kevin – “for antibodies, and once we confirm the diagnosis, we’ll write you a prescription for antivirals, and likely give Kevin here a booster shot. In the mean time, I want you to drink a little of that water, and I’m going to go ahead and get you some Tylenol, too. Abby keep an eye on her fever. I’m thinking it’s just because she hasn’t taken anything since this morning, but it’s a little higher than I’m comfortable with.” She handed Holtzmann two white pills, and Holtzmann gulped them dutifully, before leading them down the hall to the lab.

The technician drew Holtzmann’s blood first, to help make Kevin feel more comfortable. This method failed completely – upon seeing the needle going into Holtzmann’s arm, Kevin panicked and had to be held down by two nurses. It took so long to get him calm enough to even draw the blood, Holtzmann’s results had come back, absolutely positive.

“Just because this can be so bad, we’re just going to go ahead and give you both the booster anyway,” Dr. Sauer explained, jabbing the needle into Kevin’s arm as Abby held his head the other way, so he couldn’t see. I’ll give it to you next. I’ve also called a prescription for Jillian into your pharmacy, and written down a list of things you might want – not nessessities, but things that might make her a little more comfortable. I’ve put stars by the things that help the most. Ok, Kev, you’re done. Abby, sit down.”

“Should I send in the other women I work with for the booster as well,” Abby asked, as Dr. Sauer handed her the prescription and reccomendations.

“That’s up to you, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea, especially with how closely you’ve said you all work.” Abby nodded. She was taking a picture of the shopping list so she could sent it to Erin. If Erin could get it and have it at the firehouse before they got back, that would be one less thing to deal with. The ride back was going to be trouble enough – Holtzmann had thrown up twice more in the time they had been waiting, and wasn’t thrilled at the prospect of getting back in a car.

“I won’t lie to you,” Sauer said. “She’s likely going to be pretty miserable for the next week or so, and she’ll probably make the rest of you pretty miserable too. She’s going to spike some pretty high fevers, and the rash is only going to spread. It’s best if you keep this contained to one person, I think.”

Abby nodded. “Thanks for all your help,” she said. “We’ll call you if anything changes?”

“Absolutely,” Dr. Sauer said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cannot fucking believe this chapter is longer than both previous chapters combined, what the hell. Writing aided by beer and a good day, for sure. <3


End file.
